PUBG new 4x4 map details - new map release date expectations, new features and everything we know

PUBG's new 4x4 map has been announced, and it looks fascinating for players that are up for a little more feisty a challenge than usual.

Details are thin on the ground at the moment, but below we'll take you through everything we know about the new PUBG map, including any loose hints at a release date - or at least a release window - and any other info we've found so far.

PUBG's new 4x4 map explained - what do we know about the smaller new PUBG map features?

In brief, not a lot! Let's start with a nice bit of concept art, as that's just about all the official info we have so far.

The most obvious point to make about it is that this new map is, of course, smaller than the other two maps Erangel and Miramar that already exist - with both of those coming in at 8 kilometres by 8 kilometres, to this one's four by four.

The player numbers are set to stay the same at 100 per round, which means the most significant effect on the moment-to-moment will be the density of the opposition.

It'll be more likely that you encounter other players on the four by four map simply because you're all crammed into a smaller place.

That, in turn, will affect the pacing of the games, which should be a welcome addition. The other two maps, partially due to their size, do have some pacing issues, and that's become an increasing complaint from players.

Games on those maps often start bloody, with players dropping into hotly contested zones for some 'Team Deathmatch' style action, and then when there are 30 to 50-odd players left after just a few minutes, the game drastically slows down, as the remaining ones slowly make their way to the safe zones without much risk of encountering others.

The pace of the blue zone also seems to have played a part, instead shaving off stranded players earlier, rather than forcing players together in the mid game as was seemingly intended. Then there's the fact that Miramar, in particular, is tricky to navigate safely - and you get the picture. Essentially, expect this map to be sustained action, with slightly shorter game times as a result.

What else do we know about the map itself? Well, Bluehole confirmed that new vehicles are coming in the first half of 2018, along with new weapons and game modes down the line. There's been some talk of these being more map-specific as the game evolves to include more of them - vehicles, weapons, modes and all - and so similarly to the weapons like the Win94 that are exclusive to Miramar, and the vehicles exclusive to each, we could see some new additions that feature solely on the 4x4 map. Maybe we'll finally get a bicycle! But probably not.

New 4x4 PUBG map release date expectations - when will the 4x4 map be available?

There's no exact release date for the 4x4 map, but there is at least a vague window.

"Next month" is the quote from Bluehole on the Roadmap blog, so that's a month-and-a-half's wait at the most, hopefully.

That's only for its release on the Test Server though, with it looking like the map's rollout will be similar to that of Miramar when it was first announced, with a month or so of testing before it hits live servers. Hopefully that's it, at least - with the promise being that new features in the 2018 roadmap get into our hands earlier in the development cycle, it could also mean longer waits between them appearing on the Test Server and them going live for real.

Either way, you can probably tell we're pretty excited. Fingers crossed it's a smooth launch and we get our hands on some miniaturised chicken dinners - chicken snacks? - some time soon!